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They Do It for Free! The Inner Lives of Interns

Certainly, internships can provide the relevant job experience employers look for when making hires, and they give career hopefuls the chance to make industry contacts. The problem, of course, is that only the privileged tend to have the means (i.e., parental support) to pursue them without going into debt, putting those who can get by on nothing in the short run at a long-term advantage.
— The New York Observer

Victimeyes - report your school to NAAB, the state's labor board, the attorney general's office and send it to the local chapter of the AIA, who may show more concern as alumni than the national board who would probably think that's a dandy business plan, partly because the FAIA's are generally amoeba like lizard people.

It's not just the interns who are getting screwed: As owners of a small firm reluctant to bring in unpaid interns for ethical reasons, we feel keenly that this reluctance puts us at a competitive disadvantage compared to the many firms who do so without compunction.

@simoneis, I think you're right, it does hurt more than the interns. I must say though, it's nice to hear of a firm that is reluctant to take on unpaid interns. I feel like this conversation is lively amongst interns but we rarely hear how principles feel about it.

The position of a student weighing no internship vs. and unpaid internship is a difficult one, especially when both architecture schools and NCARB have internship requirements for both graduation and licensing.

As an architect in a small 3 architect firm, I don't see how you can have a significant discussion on the topic without considering the economic situation. On a healthy growing economy, an unpaid intern program is unforgivable. On the current economy, the situation gets more complex and you have to consider the variables in order to reach a sound conclusion. Last year every architect in our office worked with no pay, at least for half the time, producing proposals (both written and drawn), in order to promote projects and convince reluctant clients and developers to invest in construction projects they have been afraid to carry out. We either do that, or do nothing. As architects who cannot see themselves doing anything else, we would rather work for nothing, and go down fighting, instead of just sitting around waiting for clients to walk in the door with a surprise project. This summer things are just as hard, but we are expecting a small team of interns to come and work with us during a six week program, with no pay. These guys feel the same way we do. They are certainly lucky in the sense that they can do it without going hungry. If the program (which for all four of them represents the first opportunity of work in an architectural office) gives them a chance to get a real experience and do some learning, then it should be worth it. We expect them to work on more proposals, competitions and some charity work, while gaining some knowledge on the inner workings of a firm, construction documents, permits, negotiations and everything else a small firm architect has to deal with. All four of them are excellent students, with high expectations of us and of themselves. Next summer we expect them to get a real job (a paid job) in a bigger firm, in a bigger city, and we expect the experience that we are affording them this summer to help them attain this goal. You can be critical of this approach, but only if we, as architects and mentors, fail in our commitment to provide these four students with a worthy working experience.